Strange Magical Pets
by Triple Deluxe
Summary: Now, this is a story all about how Izuku Midoriya got flipped-turned upside down; how he'd smashed his face, broke his leg, and had to take care of a weird little pink egg.
1. Broken Legs

DATE: JANUARY 20th, 2020 (20/1/20)

* * *

Now, nigh 150 years beyond the time of this being published, one would anticipate- no, scratch that, _expect_\- that technology had advanced to the point of hovercraft being still expensive, yet not as uncommon, much like the 'Back to the Future II' made long ago, with resources either on the brink of nonexistence or completely and utterly flourishing, perhaps even moving to other planets similar to Earth to exploit and claim such quintessential items, or for either humanity to die out to leave behind a post-apocalyptic wasteland worldwide, not too unlike 'Mortal Engines', being sent directly to space to escape reaping what they'd sewn, ala 'Wall-e', hell, it was a miracle that another World War had broken out during this time period, let alone multiple.

But that wasn't the case. For better or worse, not by a long shot.

You remember all those comics about people with supernatural powers/abilities at a comic store or the local library, yeah? Where they'd be heralded as a hero with a funky costume or a villain with either cheesy or extremely vile intent, most with a tragic or fantastical backstory? Where you'd dress up as these beloved icons for Halloween each year to get a hefty sugar high with no repercussions, or to join your friends at the local book fair to compete with the rest of the school for the best shoddily designed outfit a young child could muster. Well, the ones before the gluttonous Disney became the empire it was, at least.

Alongside the prehistoric predators that back up atheists to this day, these were the ultimate dream for a fair majority of young boys, alongside girls that weren't ultimately interested in the cute and cuddly that the media had stereotypicalised since time immemorial. To be one to either have an incredible ability to save the people they walk by for the greater good, or even for another personal dream like being able to fly, or for the more sadistically minded, having terrifying power to reign dominant over their fellow men or those below them, they'd often claim. Nonetheless, even going into the 21st Century, an entirely new millennia, this was nothing more than simple make-believe fantasy, yet one that had been popularised to the point of becoming an international phenomenon. It was the ultimate dream; to have a superpower.

So would you believe me if I said a baby shot fresh out the womb took a few notes from 'Sky High' and proceeded to flash brighter than Glowstone, shocking the two doctors that helped the lady give birth?

Indeed, barely more than a century and a half ago, these powers we considered fantasy...became reality. Though initially sparse, these incredible abilities appeared across the whole world, faster and faster, more and more abilities being discovered as time caught up to them. With these special powers, things impossible before became accomplished with almost no effort; resources shrivelling, crisis' unsolved for decades, _humanity's future as a whole_, all solved by these incredible abilities. They were so much so that, in modern times, the world didn't even appear as 'Futurama' had painted it (to the dismay of many who enjoyed the show), but rather, what people had predicted 2032 to be technology-wise. Such a feat as the world independently progressing 170 years beyond what it appeared to be, with no signs of slowing down? Yeah, that'd be pretty incredible.

For simplification purposes, these incredible abilities that had stormed the world like a plague had become internationally referred to as Quirks, be it by activation by the time of preschool, or a mutation having been present since birth. They weren't hanging onto the tree all too well either; an estimated average of _**80%**_ of living things, humans and animals alike, had developed Quirks. They'd been such an integral part of life by now that family trees with Quirks had been sorted into Generations, specifically by the oldest known manifestation of a Quirk and their descendants following. Some Quirks were original, manifested upon someone by sheer luck alone, or as a gene from one's parents be it from one or both parents, often making an entirely new Quirk altogether. Some were lucky enough to be all of the above; an original Quirk manifested by oneself _in addition_ to the inheritance of another by one's parents.

Of course, not everyone was to feast at the Round Table. There were some that were incredibly unlucky, especially with odds now, to be born without a Quirk, hence the label **Quirkless**. In society, cruel bastard it was, this was basically a sign that read 'kick me' in large, bold letters. It was even worse when you realise that the percentage takes into account _all_ living creatures, young _and old_, meaning a newly born one in this day and age was even _less_ likely to not have a single Quirk to call one's own.

"And what the hell are you doing, _Deku_?"

One of these unfortunate souls was a young boy with curly dark green hair, Izuku Midoriya.

"I-I-I said s-stop it!" The young boy whimpered, trying to defend another boy with, as of yet, no discovered Quirk. "He's a-already c-crying, s-s-so-"

"So let me get this straight," To no avail, mind you. "Izuku Midoriya, the Quirkless little Deku he is, is gonna play hero, huh?" This young boy was Katsuki Bakugo, a friend of Izuku's (or so the Quirkless boy liked to think). Once as wondering and excited as Izuku, the moment he acquired his Quirk, known as **Explosion**, he'd become the talk of the town. Everyone was interested in his Quirk, excited to see what he could do.

However, this had caused Katsuki to become...conceited, to say the least. With all the attention and praise he'd received, many teachers citing his incredible potential as a Pro Hero, he'd started to become snarky, overconfident, vain, _cruel_. And who was his 'best friend', one of the few kids without a Quirk yet if at all, he'd harassed like mad, following his belief that only the strongest Quirks would thrive, but those without one, weak or strong, had no purpose. The worst part was that he honestly had a point.

As he spoke, he punched his fist into an open palm, which caused a small explosion the size of Katsuki's head. Behind him, his two cohorts were also on the move, one flapping his giant, devil-like wings to pull himself airborne, the other stretching out his fingers, enough to encompass a human skull.

"eep"

* * *

The bad memory from four hours ago burned his head. _Badly_. These past few days had been part of quite possibly the worst year of his life.

First, he suffers a beating from Katsuki with a bunch of explosions out of nowhere. It burned like hell, but he didn't want his mother worried, nor did he want Mitsuki angry, so he said nothing unless he needed to lie. Then, he goes to a doctor to check on his Quirk, only to learn he will likely _**never get one**_, causing him to go into near hysteria, his mother apologising for something that wasn't even her fault.

"_I'm sorry, Izuku. I'm sorry!"_

_Then_ he gets absolutely blown over by Katsuki again, as well as 2 others, in an absolute mauling. He was fairly certain they'd broken at least 3 bones. But again, he wouldn't tell. He worried for Katsuki even now. He'd stopped using his old nickname for the blonde, Kacchan, but that didn't mean he'd stopped caring.

Everything else, on the other hand?

He was being bullied in school for not having something kids could only dream of 150 years ago whereas everyone else did, he had learned from a professional doctor that he'd never manifest said ability for the rest of his life, and directly caused by the later, his mother had obviously fallen into a state of depression and self-loathing, blaming herself for not being able to 'give birth right', whatever that meant, he'd only heard her mutter it the other night. When she started crying, he ignored his own sadness to go hug her and cure Inko of her own crying. Suffice to say, it didn't work, but she was definitely smiling with joy.

All he really had was the kindness of his single mother, who was lulling into the same sadness he was. It wasn't her fault at all; she'd been a great mother. It wasn't his either for not having a Quirk whatsoever. It _was_ his fault for not doing anything about it.

But what _could_ he do? He was harassed to no end at school, he'd been surrounded by people in public with quirks even younger than himself, and life at home was likely going to collapse at any given moment with all of the stress being piled on like a load of soaking washing on a cold winter day. There wasn't a single way that he could think of where this could get any worse without death involved.

"Woahwoahwoahwoa-OW!"

Except there was.

All of a sudden, he had tripped over something large and fell face-first into the green grass of the local park. Soft the grass may be, he'd fallen pretty damn hard.

"OWOWOWOWOW!" And if that wasn't embarrassing enough, he'd twisted his left ankle as well. Great. Not only had he made a fool of himself in the middle of a popular public area, but he'd also given himself major injuries in the process. A broken ankle and dented face? You couldn't hide that from Inko Midoriya.

He turned around slightly to see what he'd tripped over, likely a large decorative rock for a display, or maybe a root to one of the trees. They were pretty big, after all. Maybe someone had thrown a football across and he'd stepped in at the wrong time? Actually, wasn't there a construction site nearby? Maybe someone had left behind their toolbox during lunch break. What if someone had left-

?

"..."

…

"..." Izuku, to be as blunt as he could manage, had no clue what he was looking at.

It seemed to be...some sort of egg? Why would there be an egg in the middle of a park? Easter wasn't even celebrated in Japan for the most part. And even then, it was the exact opposite time of year for it to happen anywhere else. The egg itself was mostly a standard pretty pink, with a thick white line just below the middle and the top segment being a rose red. It looked like something some American parents would get their daughter for their first easter. And why was it so big?! It was practically as big as his torso!

Ignoring the immaculate pain in his leg for now, the other emotion at hand was...confusion. Sheer non-understanding of what in All Might's name he was looking at right now. His face was drawn with shapes one would learn even before their Quirk would show up. Awful lot of shading, too.

But...what should he do with it? It was buried a bit into the ground as if it had landed there like a package drop from an aeroplane. How long had it been here? How has nobody else seen it before now? What was even inside? Maybe some new species of animal? Or it could be a large chocolate egg. It was hard to tell.

When he reached over to touch it, it was warm. It was like when his mother gave him a hug. It even felt as comforting. That made it easier to tell that this did in fact house a creature inside of it, still growing before it would inevitably hatch. He says inevitably because if it were dead inside, it'd be cold. This gave him a spark of hope that he could help it, however it needed it.

It took a good minute of pulling and some odd stares from a couple locals, but after using up the little strength he had left today, he had managed to pull the egg from the small crater it had incidentally made. By the time it had gotten out, it leapt a good couple metres into the air from the force before falling back down...right onto Izuku's head.

"OOF!"

The impact knocked him onto his back, sprawling on the grass, the egg shortly following onto his gut, causing more wind to break out of his system. That had exhausted him far quicker than the pulling he had just done, but the good news was clear: the egg was free. He smiled; now he could take care of it!

He quickly sat himself up and hugged the sizeable egg in his grasp. "Don't worry," He spoke to the egg, smiling the widest, truest grin he had in a while. "I'll keep you safe!" The declaration clear.

He'd failed to notice the egg glowing slightly.

* * *

**So I'd recently been reading this manga about superheroes recently. And I'd also spurred a long-since-buried interest in ****P****ok****é****mon ****once again I tried combining these ideas, but it seemed to cliche, so I tried something else. This is the latter.**

**So new story time, I guess. I'll see if I can give this a couple of updates before it burns out.**


	2. Glowing Eggs

DATE: JANUARY 22nd, 2020 (22/1/20)

* * *

**Alright, I think I have a general outline of what I want to do. We should be good until the egg hatches, where it might be a bit of fluff until some more general storyline. Unlike/compared to _One Piece_, I hardly know jack shit about _My Hero Academia_. I think that might have to do with a large quantity of the vocal fanbase either fighting each other like a civil war or unanimously agreeing on looking at two males and chanting "I diagnose you with gay". Not quite my schtick, so I'll stick to this. Though I do have one more MHA idea up my sleeve...will also be far easier, too.**

MoldyCrystal49 [CHP1, JAN 21]

**Thanks! I've seen one or two where they're already integrated, and or others where either Ash goes to the MHA universe or vice versa with Izuku. I wanted to try one where they're slowly introduced throughout the story.**

Ricardo753 [CHP1, JAN 21]

**Dankeschön. I like to keep characters intact unless them being different is either due to something within a particular setting or as the plot of an entire story. I also feel uncomfortable if the story isn't set up right. If I cringe at my writing, so will everyone else.**

Wolfygirlxx [CHP1, JAN 22]

**Calm down son, it's just a Fanfiction.**

* * *

Mitsuki Bakugo sighed to herself with a slight groan of disapproval as she flicked another fashion magazine onto the coffee table before her. Probably the third one by now. "Girls these days," She muttered, rubbing a tired hand through her spiky hair. "No passion. You can afford the fuckton of plastic under your skin, yet you can't afford to put in some decent enough effort for the camera."

The mother of the Bakugo household, which was an extremely fancy house at that for simple suburbia, was hoping to get a few minutes break from her current house job behind a PC at a desk. Seeing young girls this day and age partaking in modelling, much like she had around eight years back (and likely still could due to her Quirk), were barely even trying to do anything but look 'pretty' in front of a camera...honestly disgusted her more than she'd like to admit through her fairly vulgar mouth. When she partook, even though her **Glycerin** Quirk gave a fairly marginal advantage even now, she tried to actually look good from the camera however possible, try new poses, extravagant outfits, collaborations with people she never knew only for them to end up lifetime friends.

One of those, in particular, was Inko Midoriya, someone she'd known since way back when. The two had met during high school during around Year 9. There was an excursion their class had to go on, and a villain had caused the entire situation to go downhill. They had run into each other during a panic attack on Inko's part when Mitsuki tried to snap her out of it with a quick slap. Though the villain was eventually dealt with without casualties, the two had been stuck with one another for about an hour, trying to figure out what to do and how to deal with the situation. If one knew their personalities, it was without objection that Mitsuki would be the up-and-front of the duo, Inko sitting behind as the peacekeeper and making sure her best friend didn't do something stupid.

Even after high school the two were still hitting it off as the best of friends, Mitsuki even offering as a recommendation for Inko to get into modelling, though the Midoriyan would barely go two shoots without backing out entirely from shyness of her body and public attention, the former of which lead Mitsuki into a massive spiral of confusion. Mitsuki teased her about this shyness for weeks, of course. Even until she got a new house job as Inko did, the two would still head out rather frequently to just about everywhere Mitsuki could find and Inko would gladly follow (poor woman didn't have it in her to offer any suggestions out of fear her friend wouldn't have any interest). Hell, even from Mitsuki's wedding day with him, Inko had made acquaintance with Masaru. Sharing a similar pacifist nature between the two was an obvious factor in this.

It was a shame their kids didn't get along for too long, especially since not too long after Katsuki acquired his Quirk, he had enveloped himself in a boisterous, self-centred attitude. Due to his Quirk, he was far more violent with those 'below him', i.e. Izuku. Poor kid was Quirkless, and rather than get support from others he got shoved further down the drain. She knew the young Midoriyan was being bullied by her son, of which she reprimanded Katsuki to no end (though what good was it doing?), and yet he told nobody. Not even his own mother. Poor Izuku still worried about Katsuki after the immense bullying he'd endured from the latter. The fact that Izuku was the sweetest child she'd ever met made it even harder for her. For fuck sake, ever since the two mothers introduced the kids to one another, he'd call her 'Bakumom'. It was cheesy as hell and she loved it. She still remembered laughing her ass off when he first called her that.

* * *

"_Izu, this is my best friend, Mitsuki Bakugo, Katsuki's mother," Inko introduced as they sat on the couch, the two boys sitting beside one another on the carpet. "Say hello!"_

_Mitsuki simply rose a hand to her nephew by all but blood. "Hey." She greeted, smiling._

_With the brightest smile she'd ever seen, Izuku waved back. "Hello, Bakumom!"_

_The moment those words left his mouth, she couldn't help herself. "PFFFFFFFFFFTHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" That was by far the funniest shit she'd heard all week. Even Inko had to hold her hands over her mouth to hold back her giggling._

_Katsuki turned to his friend. "Baku_what_?" He wondered, confused as to why his mother had turned blue._

* * *

*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*

The sound of the front door snapped her out of the old memory. To think, that was a year back. Where the hell had time gone?

She got up, stretched her back a bit from the constant sitting, and proceeded to head to the door. It was likely Katsuki; he should probably be back from his friends by now.

Though to her surprise, it was Izuki with a...giant pink egg? And what happened to the kid's face?

"Hi, Bakumom," He smiled when she'd opened the door.

Though she was happy to see him, Mitsuki rose an eyebrow. "You alright, Izuku?" She asked. What was he doing here? And again, what happened to his face?

Izuku's smile persisted yet. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine," He reassured. "Why?"

Mitsuki crossed her arms. "You look like someone threw a cinder block at you." She retorted, not buying it. "And what's with the giant egg?" She asked, looking down at the pink oval. Did the government finally officialise easter in Japan when she wasn't looking?

Izuku frowned for a bit, thinking if his facial expression said anything. After a few seconds, he looked back up to his aunt figure. "Can I come inside?"

Mitsuki smiled, stepping to the side of the doorway. "Sure thing, kiddo," She welcomed. "Tell me everything you need to."

The moment Izuku started _limping_ into the household, egg in his grasp, she frowned again. Did he steal the thing from a giant bird with a Quirk or something? How was he so injured?!

She sighed as he could hear his whimpering as his left foot moved forward, only for the right to quickly take its place out front. It didn't matter if it was personal or open to the public, she was getting to the bottom of this horseshit.

"Izuku," She spoke up from the now-closed door.

The Quirkless child turned his head behind him. "Yeah?" He acknowledged.

"Can we sit down somewhere?" She asked. "We need to talk about what the hell happened to you."

Izuku sighed, knowing this was coming, let alone from possibly the most overprotective person he knew. He turned back down to the egg, which he hadn't separated from since he'd found it, before turning back to the former model. "The dining table?" He offered, wanting the egg to be somewhere safe.

Mitsuki nodded, walking over to the other end of the first floor of the stupidly big house. She cringed slightly as she heard Izuku try to move faster, only for his whimpers to become slightly louder...and more painful.

As Izuku finally reached the end seat of the table, placing the egg in some blankets he nabbed on the way there to prevent it from rolling off, Mitsuki took a quick detour to the kitchen, where Izuku looked on in wonder as to what she'd gone to get.

She returned to him with a flat red sack, frost blowing off of it like smoke on the water, as well as a small hand towel. "First thing's first, that's definitely a twisted ankle, so we need to fix that up ASAP." She insisted, wrapping the ice pack into the towel. She carefully went to grab Izuku's left leg, moving it to the chair to his left after dropping the chair's back cushion onto the seat. The wrapped ice pack followed suit atop his ankle. "That better?" Mitsuki inquired.

Izuku nodded slightly. "My leg is stiff." He remarked.

Mitsuki pulled out the chair to the Midoriyan's right. "Yeah, ice'll do that to ya." She agreed, chuckling on how Izuku hadn't realised the whole point of the ice was no not only slow down blood movement to repair the tear but to extinguish any encouragement for him to use his left leg.

Adopting a more serious face, she looked young Midoriya in the eye. "Alright Izu, let's hear it," She ordered, arms crossed and leaning on the table. "What happened today?"

Izuku didn't want to include the part about Katsuki and his group bullying him, as the Bakugo would get in deep trouble from the woman before him, so he skipped straight to where he was in the park. God knows why he was this forgiving to such a douche.

"And then I finally got the egg out of the ground!" Izuku cheered, reaching the end of the story. "It really hurt when it landed on me, though."

Mitsuki had paid close attention the whole way through, silently nodding as he explained a particular scene. The main exception was how he got injured, where she cringed a bit from the sheer non-luck Izuku had been given. Overall, she had to agree; what the fuck was a huge pink egg doing lodged in the middle of a public park.

Something else snapped to her mind at that moment. "Wait a minute," She spoke up. "You mean to tell me that, with a messed up ankle like that, in addition to the weight of this egg, you _walked_ all the way _here_?!"

Izuku suddenly realised why his ankle was hurting as badly as it did. "S-S-Sorry!" He whimpered, hands raised. "I-I'm too young for a p-phone. And y-your house is closer to the park than mine…"

Raising an eyebrow, Mitsuki stroked her chin with an open palm. "So you came here to minimize the walking distance from where you got injured, rather than headed straight to your own house?" She guessed.

Izuku nodded. "Y-Yes." He squeaked.

After the boy had been stared at for a good 10 seconds, Mitsuki sighed. "Well, I suppose it's better than your foot dropping off in the middle of nowhere," She chuckled, pulling out her phone from her pocket. "Should I call your mom now?" She offered.

It took a bit longer than she was expecting, but Izuku eventually looked back up to Mitsuki. "Yes, please." He accepted.

And just like that, the phone was already to her ear. "Hey, Inky!" She greeted.

* * *

As Inko Midoriya got out of her car, the same thoughts came to her head. 'Where did he get hurt? How did he get here? Has Miki taken care of him right?' She didn't even get a proper explanation from her friend, just a quick one-sided message.

**"_Your kid twisted his ankle."_**

"_WHAT?!"_

**"_Yeah, and he came here since it was closer to the park."_**

"_Why was he at the park?"_

**"_Can't say. Gotta see it for yourself. Izu's pretty worried about it, gotta say."_**

"_Wait wait wait, go back! _WHY_ is ankle broken?!"_

**"_His face also got busted up."_**

It was quite possibly the worst conversation she'd ever had, especially given that was the last line she gave before Mitsuki immediately hung up on her. Then again, it would be outside her personality if she didn't. No, wait, that's beyond the point; her son was assaulted and her best friend, who was taking care of him, was being _vague_ about such a thing, which was incredibly suspect.

Or she was overthinking it and he tripped over an overgrown weed. But what if it wasn't? But what if it_ was_. But how-

*BONK*

She'd been so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't realise she was walking as fast as she was. Now because she'd run into the front door of the Bakugo household, she was flat on her back, rubber ducks circling her unconsciousness.

The door then opened, an explosive blonde woman approaching. "Hm?" She looked right and left, not being able to see anybody at the door. Did some little shits prank her again? Wouldn't have been the first time it happened this week.

She then looked down to see the hot mess sprawled on her pavement.

"Took you long enough." She chuckled. She quickly squatted down to Inko's right, wiping her hands over her friend's face applying glycerin from her Quirk before proceeding to slap her silly.

"OKAY, OKAY, I'M ALIVE!" After the 16th slap, her hand being grabbed, Inko Midoriya seemed to be alright. This didn't include the fresh slap marks on her cheeks, as that would be cheating.

Mitsuki smirked. "Could've fooled me." She remarked.

Inko was quickly on her feet, grabbing Mitsuki's hands and shaking them with worry. "Please, tell me Izu's alright! _Please_, I need to know!" She cried, worrying for her son's health.

Mitsuki just laughed. "Calm down, Inky, the kid's fine." She assured. "He's in the dining room right now, leg propped up and everything." As the Bakugo jabbed a thumb inside, Inko made a quick run inside to make sure her son was all well. The former sighed from behind as she closed the door. "You run any faster and you're gonna break your own legs…"

"Izu?" She voiced as she entered the dining room. She quickly caught her son petting a...giant pink egg?

Izuku turned around at the familiar voice, smiling. "Hi, mom!" He greeted, waving.

He was promptly grappled by his now crying mother, tears pouring out like a busted pipe. "Oh my goodness Izu I was so worried about you I was home preparing dinner and got a call from Miki saying you hurt your ankle and your face was injured I really hope it's not as bad as I thought it was I don't want you to spend your weekend stuck in bed healing from something so small I was worried you were going to die and I was never going to see you again I thought someone had tried to mug you and you've-"

A thumb and index finger then held her nose hostage. "It's not illegal to breathe, last I checked." Mitsuki remarked.

Inko sighed. "Thanks." She replied, nose still in grasp.

As the Bakugo released her friend's nose, she took a seat next to where she did earlier to give Inko a spot. "Anyway, Izuku, tell your mother what happened." She asked, wanting this to go no slower than it needed to be.

After Izuku explained the same story he told Mitsuki, his mother nodded, a large cloud of air escaping her. "I was afraid someone had tried to rob you and you barely got away."

Mitsuki put a finger to her chin. "I think that happened to Katsuki once."

Inko snapped at her friend's remark. "What-"

"Also, something else I'm curious about;" Mitsuki spoke, her head between her arms on the table. "The hell's in the egg?"

Pushing aside the quick curse, Inko couldn't deny she was also curious. "Why is it even here?" She asked.

Izuku shook his head. "I don't know," He replied. "I just...found it there." He put his hand back on the egg again. "Something's in here." He pointed out.

Mitsuki rose her head from her arms a bit. "He's right, you know," She confirmed. "Shit's lukewarm, so _something's_ growing in that thing."

Okay, _that_ one wouldn't slide. "Mitsuki-"

"Don't care, neither does he." She shot back with a raised hand.

Izuku just laughed, bringing in the egg closer for a small hug. "As long as it's alive." He muttered.

The egg glowed slightly as if responding to his words.

This shocked Izuku. How did an egg glow?! "Mom, mom!" He quickly exclaimed, holding the egg towards them. "The egg was glowing!"

The two stared at the egg, then stared at Izuku, then the egg, then Izuku. And then the egg again.

"Maybe he _did_ hit his head a bit too hard." Mitsuki noted.

Inko glared at her. "Don't joke about those things!"

* * *

The trip home wasn't all that exciting, just Izuku speculating what was inside. It was almost obvious whatever was inside had a Quirk from the eggshell alone. Most of Izuku's guesses had been types of lizards, while Inko was going to guess a bunny from the colour scheme, but had quickly shot that down when she remembered it was an _egg_.

When they got back, they'd cleaned up Izuku's face, which had mostly healed by now, as well as set his leg up in the living room with a small stool. Of course, Izuku held onto the egg the whole way through, which a few people gave some questioning stares at on the way up to their apartment room.

"Are you sure you don't need anything else?" Inko asked her son, ever worrying as she always was.

Izuku laughed. "It's okay mom, I'm fine!" He had a glass of water, an ice pack on his leg, and the pink egg he found right next to him. To him, anything more would be selfish on his part.

Inko nodded. "If you need anything, feel free to ask!" She offered, heading back to the kitchen to resume her cooking. Izuku just sighed. His mom worried about him too much; if she kept stressing out as she did, odds are it would take a toll on her.

Dinner had been a simple serving of butter chicken and small vegetables on a bed of rice, something she'd noticed Izuku had taken quite the liking to. They'd sat down on the couch to give Izuku some company during his time of recovery. They watched the news as they often did, though Inko had quickly changed channels at the more...sinister headlines. Her baby wasn't quite ready for those yet. Of course, one major one had been yet another report of one of All Might's successes, who was the idol of not just Izuku but many people in Japan, in addition to some other reports of some of the new up and coming heroes. To Inko's relief, most of them had a similar passion and justice to All Might.

Not too long after they'd eaten, however, Izuku had dozed off. Inko would have tried to wake him up to get him to brush his teeth, but he needed to heal his ankle, so she resorted to carrying him back to his bed herself, using her Quirk to keep the ice pack on his ankle. With her son underneath the covers and quietly sleeping, she gave him a quick kiss on his forehead, heading out to clean up before she slept.

When she stepped out, she noticed something on the couch reflecting a shadow from the setting sun: the egg. The same one that Izuku had tripped over and carried the whole way. According to Mitsuki and her retelling of her son's story, he'd held onto the egg the whole walk to her friend's house, kept it close and under a watchful eye when he was there, and even when she picked him up he still held it close the whole time. She knew just as well as them that _something_ was in there, due to hatch in god knows how long. She knew that whatever was in there would be something incredible, as that egg was no doubt incredibly unique.

She smiled. She knew this egg meant so much to Izuku. Not even a day and it was like his own child.

Before anything else, she walked over to the lounge and picked up the egg, making sure nothing had happened to it while she placed her son in bed. Once she was certain it was all but okay, she moved back to her son's All Might-infested room, carefully lifting the covers and placing the pink egg next to her son's body, likely as he would if he brought it here himself.

Almost as soon as she placed the egg next to Izuku, he reached over to it and held it close to his body. It was the most adorable reaction she'd ever seen, a small giggle escaping her. If only she had a camera right now.

With that, she turned back around to do the dishes-

"Mom?"

She quickly turned around at the small sound, turning to see Izuku pop his head up a bit, eyes barely open. He gave a small smile.

"Thank you." He muttered.

Inko smiled back. Good god, her son was adorable. "Goodnight, Izu." She whispered back.

As his mother left and closed the door, he leaned back into his bed, hugging the egg as close as he could to himself. No matter what happens, he would take care of this egg until it hatched whatever may lay inside. He would see this through to the end.

For a brief couple seconds, the egg lightly glowed underneath the thick doona.

As if he knew what it was saying, he smiled back. "Goodnight." He replied, crashing into the pillow for good.


	3. Mandarin Gang

DATE: JANUARY 23rd, 2020 (23/1/20)

* * *

**Holy hell, I have momentum. Good thing, too; I figured I'd've burned out by now.**

ultima-owner [CHP2, JAN 23]

**Patience, my friend. It will hatch eventually.**

* * *

"Please?"

"I don't know…"

"Come on, mom, it'll be fine!"

"But Izu, what if someone-"

"I'll take care of it. I promise."

Inko could only sigh. Her son had been so persistent on bringing the egg to school today, unaccepting on leaving it at home. It made sense for him to look out for it, but to her it was too dangerous to bring it to a school full of children with newly acquired quirks.

"How about this:" She attempted to propose. "We'll try and get you a day or two off to take care of it. It shouldn't be long before it hatches, so we can try and wait it out." It was a good idea to her; it was a Thursday, so it would get her son four days to watch the egg and (hopefully) not miss anything important at school. "Besides, your ankle isn't fully healed yet." She added, hoping that'd work.

Izuku was pouting slightly, looking away from his mother to the side. She had a point, but he wanted to go there to learn all he could. And yet, he refused to leave the egg behind.

Though he was incredibly young, he was just as incredibly smart. "I'm going to bring it to school today," He explained, putting his foot down. "If anything happens to it, I'll take tomorrow off."

Inko sighed. When it came to helping others, her son was a stubborn one. Unwavering. She didn't want anything to happen to him nor the egg, let alone the former due to the latter, but even though she was stubborn in her own right, she had to agree he had a point. And even if she didn't let him, he'd persist the next day. And the next. And the next…

"Today," She finally agreed. "If anything happens, you _will_ tell me and you _will_ take tomorrow off."

Izuku jumped for joy, egg still in his arms. She could've sworn the egg had glowed slightly as he leaped, but she passed it off as an early-morning hallucination.

Izuku stood at the gates to his school, his mother having just dropped him off. While she let him take the egg in for today, she didn't trust him with it walking to the school, so she gave him a lift there. He didn't have enough room to put the egg into his bag, so he carried it with him the whole way. Inko was also concerned about this, yet she saw as little alternative as her son did. 'Just for today…' She had thought to herself the trip there.

Now, Izuku stood proud, ready to make his first steps in for the day-

"Move it, Deku!" He was suddenly pushed to the ground by a familiar blonde, who was rushing through to get to his 'spot' as quickly as possible before anyone else challenged him (some poor souls did on occasion).

Fortunately, he was holding on to the egg like a rugby player clutching the football, so all of the impact was laid on him. He checked over the egg anyway to make sure nothing was out of the ordinary, sighing in relief when it seemed to be in one piece. With that, he resumed his steps-

"You heard him!"

"Move!"

He was suddenly pushed back by the same two kids who were with Katsuki yesterday, who seemed to be following the latter to their place in the playground.

He was dizzy from the sudden collision, but quickly snapped out of it when he realised something: the egg was no longer in his possession.

He immediately shot up, looking around frantically. "Oh no oh no oh no oh no, where are you where are you, where did you go where did you go where did you go…" He was a muttering mess, causing even more kids to stare at him in confusion than the ones that usually did.

He soon looked up, only to realise the egg was hanging on to a branch in the tree above him. A very thin, very high, _very loose_ branch. He started sweating, bouncing on his feet.

"Oh no…" He muttered, iris' shrinking. What did he do? Did he wait until it came down and try to catch it? Did he climb up and try to grab it manually? But would it fall down before he could reach it? How would he get down without injuring himself or breaking the egg? So many options, so little time.

All of a sudden, none of them became viable as the branch itself began to break from the tree itself. Izuku squealed as he rushed towards the tree, hoping he wouldn't be too late.

But by some miracle, the egg itself was rolling down the branch itself, which had broken into smaller branches. Faster and faster, it rolled down the railway of smaller, intertwining branches.

Soon enough, the end of the branch had hit the ground, the egg safely rolling onto the ground, causing Izuku to stop in his tracks. Almost like Lady Luck herself had kissed the young man on his forehead, the egg kept rolling on the grass...all the way to Izuku's feet.

All Izuku could do was stare at the egg before him. He didn't know if it was his luck or the eggs', he just knew that for whatever reason, some force refused to let this egg die.

He picked the egg back up, holding it close to his chest, turning around and looking up to the blue, partly cloudy sky above him. "Thank you?" He unconvincingly praised, not sure what to do. After about ten seconds of nothing else happening, he decided that was enough and went to head off to his class. The bell was going to ring any minute now.

Only when the two had left, the root of the branch had finally given way, the long stick collapsing below the tree stump itself with a few large snaps.

"Tsubasa?"

"Here."

"Rose?"

Here!"

"Katsuki?"

"Hey!"

"Rei?"

"Here!

"Kenzo?"

"Oui!"

"Izuku?"

…

The teacher didn't expect a non-response of Izuku of all people. Even if he was said to be Quirkless, he was probably the most focused during every class.

"Izuku?" She tried again, peering her head around to the back corner of the room where he'd chosen to sit. She still didn't understand why he sat there.

"Hm?" He peered his head up from...a giant pink egg? "Oh, sorry!" He apologised, rubbing the back of his head.

Katsuki rose an eyebrow. "Uhhh…" He...did not expect to see this first thing in the morning. Where did he even get that? How did he not see Deku carrying it on the way in? He went right past him!

"Midoriya?" Izuku turned to see Rose looking his way. "Where did that egg come from?"

He smiled. "I found it yesterday on the way home," He prepped up some of the cloth from the back of the room around the egg, making sure it stayed warm and upright. "I'm taking care of it until it hatches."

Rose raised her eyebrows. "Wait...it's not a toy?" She wondered.

"Or a giant piece of chocolate?" Tsubasa spoke up. Hey, a friend of Katsuki or not, even he was curious.

Still smiling, Izuku shook his head. "Nope, it's alive." He confirmed. "It's warm, actually." He put a hand on the egg, feeling the warmth he just claimed.

"Really?" Rose's curiosity persisted as she walked over to Izuku's isolated table, reaching to place a hand on the egg. The feedback was as he'd said; "It is!" She exclaimed.

"It is?" Kenzo pondered, moving to the back to try as well. When Rose stood back, the half-French placed a hand on the pink egg, only to feel it was just about as warm as a normal human body. "Incroyable!" He cried, doubts vanished.

Bit by bit, almost everyone else had gone up back to check on this strange egg, skeptical at first, only to feel the warmth of the egg and be amazed. Even the teacher had come up back to both try feeling the egg and manage the students.

The one exception of course had been Katsuki, who was leering at Izuku, the latter shrinking away at all the questions and comments being thrown his way. Why was Deku getting all of the attention? It was just a stupid egg! A stupid _PINK_ egg! Seriously?!

When recess had come, unlike his classes, he proceeded to sit alone underneath his favourite tree in the open grassy area. Not many came to this spot, preferring the trees further west, but Izuku liked it like this: he got proper time to himself. Especially after those first couple classes; everyone was surrounding him and the egg, firing question after question. If this was what being a celebrity was like, he'd have to try and get over it if he ever wanted to be a hero. Today, though, was not that day.

He quickly climbed up the tree when nobody was looking, searching the middle of the tree where a small mandarin patch was growing. These ones were especially sweet, far more than the ones his mother bought from the store, though not to say they were _bad_, just not as succulent. Somehow, student nor teacher alike, nobody else in the school knew of this.

He quickly climbed down, huffing in relief when he saw nobody had taken the egg. He peeled the mandarin quickly and bit into it, unable to hold back a bright smile as the sweetness and light sour kick danced in his mouth. It really was a wonder how nobody had found that small plant growing in there yet.

He turned down to the egg, smile still attached. "They really like you, don't they?" He asked the egg. No response, though he wasn't really surprised. "I thought somebody was going to take you away. Everyone wanted to see you!" He reached for the other mandarin he'd plucked, peeling away the skin.

"Deku."

Izuku, recognising the familiar voice, looked up to see his old friend...and currently bully.

"Hi, Katsuki!" He smiled. He couldn't help it; this guy was once the closest person he had!

Katsuki sighed. "At least you dropped the whole 'Kacchan' crap." He acknowledged.

"Mhm." Izuku nodded. "You said you didn't like it anymore, so I stopped." He looked down. "It's hard sometimes." he muttered with a slight pout.

Katsuki decided to get straight to the point. "That's not what I'm here for," He pointed down to the quite frankly abnormal egg. "What the hell is this?". He demanded in a flat tone.

Izuku followed his finger, stared for a couple seconds, then looked back to Katsuki. "It's an egg."

Tiny explosions bubbled in the palm of Katsuki's hand. "Try again."

_Ohhh_. He wanted the origin story. "Yesterday when you and the others...beat me up…" Izuku cringed a bit. "I was walking through the park and tripped over. I actually twisted my ankle." He pointed out, rolling his pants up a bit.

Katsuki rose an eyebrow. "The hell you doing here then?"

Izuku turned to the rest of the school. "I came here to learn, like everyday." He explained. "If I have to take care of an egg and a poor leg while here, then I will."

He heard Katsuki mutter. "Stubborn little…" He shook his head. "Back to the point; the hell is this?"

Izuku turned to the egg as well. "I actually tripped over _this_; it was buried in the ground, and after I saw it I tried pulling it out. Took a bit." He laughed. He grabbed the second peeled mandarin he was holding. "Want it?" He offered.

Katsuki looked at the mikan for a couple seconds, emotion unreadable. He quickly snatched it from Izuku's grasp and looked at it in his own hand. It was slightly smaller and bumpier. It looked more...natural, honestly.

He turned back to Deku. "Where'd you find this?" He asked, knowing it wasn't an ordinary mikan.

Strangely, Izuku peered left and right, as if he was making sure nobody was watching. He then stood up with slight difficulty due to his ankle, walking over to Katsuki. He looked right and left again, making sure they had the attention of nobody else.

Izuku went close to Katsuki's left ear. "I chose this tree because it looked really comfortable and away from everyone," He explained. "I tried climbing it once. When I got up there, I found there was a small root growing mandarins in the middle, like a tree in a tree." Katsuki turned to Izuku with another eyebrow sky high. The latter was unsure if he was surprised or not buying it. "Want to see?"

As he offered, Izuku quickly ran to the tree. With some minor struggle form his ankle, he moved up the tree as if it had been rehearsed a hundred times. After seeing the little Deku make it, Katsuki followed behind, eating the one he was given earlier-holy shit, this was the sweetest thing he'd ever eaten!

Once Katsuki had made it up to the middle of the tree, thick branches parting from the centre, he saw Izuku in a small corner laying on a branch. In front of him was exactly as he'd described: a small little mikan plant in some sprawled dirt in the middle of a large tree. There were still a couple ripe ones still on the plant, a few others growing steadily.

As Katsuki moved into the corner opposite Izuku's, the Quirkless grabbed another of the ripe mandarins from the plant, tossing it to Katsuki. "Um…" He squeaked, nervous. "Can I ask you something?"

Katsuki turned his head from the mikan, stopping the peeling halfway through. "Speak."

Izuku jittered a bit. "Can you...uh...can you please not tell anybody about this?" He pleaded. "I've taken care of it for a couple months now and don't want it go die…"

Katsuki pondered briefly. If he wanted, he could step on this plant right now and be done with it. Alternatively, he could drag his group over here and claim this spot as their own, the mikans with it. But then...there would barely be any for himself. With everyone else in his group, barely any from the plant would be given around. Especially when he wanted as much of it to himself as he could. If he kept this quiet between himself and Deku, it'd not only give the twat some mercy, but he'd also get more of these mikans out of it. Holy hell, they were amazing.

He smiled. "Alright then," He agreed. "I keep quiet, nobody else knows, I get some too, yeah?"

Izuku nodded. "Yeah!" He cheered. "That's why there were some leftovers. I want to save some for later!"

Katsuki nodded. "Alright then." He muttered, biting into the mikan in his hand. Even with the skin on, they were _SO. GOOD._

Izuku suddenly brought himself to the end of the tree, carefully avoiding the small tree itself.

Katsuki stared at him. "Where you going?" He asked.

Izuku turned back to his old friend. "Checking on the egg." He explained, turning around and climbing down manually. Normally he'd jump from here, but he didn't want to make his ankle worse. If the fall didn't kill him, his mother would.

When he reached the bottom, Katsuki had just landed from the jump down himself. He saw that the egg hadn't budged from its spot. Then again, everyone was still on the other end of the school, so it made sense that nobody noticed.

When he saw Izuku hugging the egg, he raised an eyebrow. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately. "You really care about that thing that much?" He asked.

Izuku turned to him. "Yep!" He replied, holding it towards the Bakugo. "Feel it. It's warm!"

Katsuki was a bit hesitant at first, likely unbelieving that it was _actually_ warm. He figured the class felt bad and tried to make some ploy to make the Quirkless feel better. Admittedly, it made him a bit jealous.

When he touched the egg, though, it was...actually warm. Felt like that one cup of warm saltwater he used to clear out his throat.

"The hell?" He muttered, shocked that it was actually, well, warm. If this was a legit egg...then what the hell was going to hatch?!

Though scaring Izuku, he took the whole egg for himself for a moment. "What's in it?" He asked after a bit of time.

With a side tilt of the head, Izuku shrugged. He had no clue.

Katsuki looked back down to the egg for a moment, staring at it. It gave him an idea on what to do with it.

"Let's cook it."

Izuku quickly paled faster than a rubber to a sheet of A4. "H-H-H-HUH?!"

"You heard me," Katsuki shrugged. "I say we cook this thing."

Izuku instantaneously grabbed the egg back from the explosive little shit. "NO!" He cried. "We are NOT cooking the egg!"

A raised eyebrow and crossed arms. "But why?"

Izuku pointed to the egg. "Because there's something _alive_ in this egg. It's _warm_ remember?" He explained.

Both eyebrows were up. "Are eggs not normally warm?" Katsuki asked.

Now it was Izuku's turn to hold an eyebrow high. "No?"

Katsuki put a hand to his chin. "I need to try cooking more." He concluded.

The egg suddenly glowed.

While Izuku smiled looking down at the egg, Katsuki flinched. "Wait, what the shit?!" He cried, his mother's influence showing too soon.

The egg glowed a second time.

After nothing else happening, Izuku was practically beaming with joy. "That's the first time it's glowed twice!" He cheered.

"IT'S DONE THIS BEFORE?!" Katsuki roared, explosions popping in his hands.

Izuku flinched. "Y-Y-Yeah…" He stuttered. "This is the third time, I think." He clearly didn't see the first one in the park. "It might hatch soon!"

He only just noticed Katsuki's arm slung over his shoulder. "Izuku, listen to me;" The fact he _didn't_ call him Deku told the Quirkless that Katsuki was serious. "Eggs don't just _glow_. That stuff doesn't just _happen_." He explained in a tone that Izuku would be laughing on the floor about if it were at any other time.

Izuku pointed to the egg. "Then what was that?" He wondered.

Katsuki shrugged. "The egg was glowing." He stated, knowing full well what he saw.

Izuku held a hand out to him. "See?"

Katsuki shook his head. "I _know_ the egg was glowing," He drawled. "I'm saying it _shouldn't_ have been glowing. Why the _hell_ is it glowing?!"

Izuku pondered to himself for a moment, hand on chin, staring at the egg. "It's a magic egg?" He offered.

Katsuki chopped the air almost robotically. "You know what?" He spoke. "I'll take it. Nothing else explains this shit." He confessed.

Izuku's head suddenly brightened, smiling like crazy. "I have an idea!" He cheered.

Katsuki just stared at him. "Now what?" He groaned.

He held the egg in Katsuki's direction, though he wasn't going to give it to him this time. "Wanna help me take care of it?" He offered.

***RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!*** The school bell chimed.

Katsuki rose an eyebrow. "...why would I help you with that?" He demanded.

Izuku was bouncing on his feet. "It'll be fun!" He exclaimed. "We can find out what's in here! Me, mom, you and Bakumom!"

Katsuki leered at the Midoriya again. "Why would my mom help out with this?" He asked, confused as to why she was even brought up.

Izuku brought the egg back in to his chest. "I limped to your house from the park since it was closer than my house. I told her and mom about what happened and then my mom took me home." He pouted slightly. "They didn't see the egg glowing, though."

Katsuki exhaled _heavily_. "Ignoring you waltzed into _my_ house, why should I help you with this?" He asked again, tired of detouring away from the question he asked.

"We can find out what's in it!" Izuku explained again. "Nobody's seen this kind of eggshell before, so it might be a really cool animal! It might even have a Quirk!"

That grabbed Katsuki's attention. Being able to raise a possibly badass animal with an even more badass quirk? Now _that_ was appealing.

He smirked. "Alright, I'll help you out." He agreed.

Still holding the egg with his left hand, he jumped and fist pumped with his right. "YES!"

Katsuki turned to walk back to class. "You still a crappy little Deku, though." He sneered.

Izuku was confused. "I never said anything about that?" He replied, following behind.

Once again, the egg subtly glowed below them.


	4. Little Trouble in Big Musutafu (I)

DATE: JANUARY 27th, 2020 (27/1/20)

* * *

**Yo. I had thought of blitzing through this as a single 9k word chapter (and I am able to do so), but I'd rather everyone be able to read _something_ rather than having to wait. I used impatience to destroy impatience.**

largomolo [CHP2/3, JAN 25]

**I apologise, as I am uncultured in the _Digimon_ ways. Bakumom sounds like an appropriate title for one, though.**

* * *

As Inko drove the car out of the school's carpark, she turned her head to the centre rear-view mirror. "So how was school today, dear?" She asked, hopeful it turned out well.

"It was one of the best days ever!" He cheered, much to Inko's relief He was still holding onto the egg even now. He wanted to try and put it behind a seatbelt but was worried it would slip out from too much force like braking. Besides, at this point, holding the egg felt natural to him, even though it had only been a couple of days.

Inko couldn't help but mirror her son's enthusiasm. "I'm so happy for you, Izuku!" She giggled, happy that her son didn't have another one of..._those_ days Mitsuki had told her about. She turned back to the road to focus on an incoming intersection. "So what did everyone think about the egg?" She was curious about what happened to it as well; no doubt it would garner some kind of attention.

Izuku looked down to the round pink oval in his grasp. "When we called out that we were there, everyone came around to me and the egg. I think they really liked it!" He explained, not too sure about it himself.

The egg itself leapt an inch, something it had done a bit since yesterday (Inko's reaction was something for the history books).

Inko giggled again. She had been worried that he would be made fun of even more than before, so it was a relief that the other students had taken to it kindly. A small weight had been lifted from her shoulders with the knowledge that her son was no longer a walking target.

"Oh yeah, Katsuki and I talked today!"

Aaaaand the weight was back on.

"O-Oh?" Inko jittered, carefully treading this thin-lined territory. "W-What about, dear?"

Izuku held out the egg in his hands. "He wants to know what's inside, too!" He exclaimed. "Everyone does, actually." I mean, it made sense that the contents of the egg were in fact the hundred million yen question.

Letting out a heavy sigh, the mother Midoriya smiled, glad that the encounter hadn't gotten violent. "I'm curious myself," She admitted. "What does Katsuki think it could be?"

Izuku looked up in thought. "He didn't say," He recalled. "But he did smile when he was thinking, so I think he might think it might be something cool."

'Mighty.' Inko thought to herself with rolling eyes, especially with her son's blatant fanboyism of a certain No.1. "You know, I think it might be something cute!" She pointed out. The colour scheme and pattern seemed to be a pretty fair hint, so she'd place her chips there.

Izuku looked down to the egg with surprisingly warm eyes. "It doesn't matter what you look like," He whispered to himself. "I'm gonna protect you with all that I can!"

Though he tried to keep quiet, his mother managed to overhear his promise, which in itself caused a tear to fall down her face. Her boy was growing up so fast…

She then incidentally reminded herself of a small talk she and Mitsuki had before the two left the Bakugo household yesterday.

"Actually, speaking of Katsuki, we're headed to a new shopping mall with the Bakugo's during the weekend."

Izuku rose his eyebrows. "Really?" He wondered.

"Mhm," Inko nodded. "Mitsuki actually showed me what it looks like yesterday before we left and invited us to go with them." She chuckled to himself. "Knowing Katsuki, he might be a bit grumpy."

Izuku made a small noise, knowing all too well dragging Katsuki somewhere against his will was the fattest no-no man could devise. Although Mitsuki's word was a vise grip unchallenged by any, so there was also that. Besides, he might find something he really wants there. A win-win, really.

_What could possibly go wrong?_

* * *

"Well Inky, what do you think?" Mitsuki inquired, the group of four having left the car park.

Inko was practically sweating. "I-It's big, I m-must say…" She stuttered, intimidated by the sheer size of the place.

"Told ya," Mitsuki chuckled. "I'm willing to bet they have literally everything here." Inko raised an eyebrow at her comment. "I mean, not _everything_ everything, but you get the idea."

Inko was lost on that one. "...not really."

Before them was a rather recent development, finished a week ago if recollection wasn't rusty. It was an incredibly large shopping complex called Westfield, having originated in the distant country of Australia and spread out into other close western nations ala New Zealand and the United States. Despite having been a thing in Australia since 1960, over 200 years ago, Japan had only recently received its first Westfield a couple years ago in Tokyo, with a second one being built in Yokohama a year later, a third in Kyoto not even a month after.

To be blunt, nobody expected Musutafu to be the fourth. But already people were relishing in it.

Mitsuki looked down to the two kids, noticing something with Izuku. "Oi, Izu," She called out.

Izuku turned up to the Bakugo matriarch. "Yeah?"

She pointed down to a certain egg in Izuku's hands. "What'd you bring pinky there for?"

Inko giggled. "Actually, he's barely let it go since Wednesday." She pointed out.

An eyebrow rose to the task. "Seriously?" She deadpanned, to which Inko nodded with a smile.

Izuku looked around him, seeing the endless tide of people moving in and out of the front entrance. It was a miracle both mothers found individual parks for their cars. The fact they were right across from one another seemed like a confusing joke.

"So many people…" He muttered.

He felt a light slap to the shoulder, followed by a light pop and a small burst of heat. "Deku, it's a giant shopping centre in a giant city." Katsuki pointed out. "Are you really that surprised?"

Izuku's head dropped to the ground, his lips quivering slightly. "No…" He whispered. "It just...intimidates me…"

Katsuki chuckled. "Not a crowd person, eh?" He asked.

Izuku shook his head. "Not really…" He replied, holding his egg tight to him.

Katsuki suddenly slung an arm over Izuku. The latter didn't expect this, especially after the former's attitude shift in the past few months. Probably from his mother. "Well, you might want to get rid of that fear soon, Deku," He ordered with a smirk, jabbing his finger into Izuku's chest. "Can't be a good Hero if you're afraid of a bunch of people around you!"

Izuku's eyes widened at that. Katsuki was right! How could he be a Hero and protect people if he couldn't even take being around them? He couldn't worry about peer pressure!

"You're right!" Izuku cheered, looking to Katsuki with a massive smile. "Thanks, Katsuki!"

Katsuki smirked. "Of course I'm right, Deku," He remarked. "What do you take me for?"

He paused for a moment and thought to himself something that'd slipped his mind. 'I just remembered Izuku's Quirkless. Why'd I say he could be a Hero?'

Meanwhile, Izuku was absolutely giddy with himself. 'Kacchan really said I could be Hero!' His mind screamed, fueled by nothing less than sheer adrenaline. 'I can really become a Hero! I just need to be braver with other people.' The moment he looked back forward, however, he immediately went back to square 1. 'Maybe not today…' He concurred.

As the group finally began walking towards the massive entrance, Inko kneeled down to the two boys. "What are you two talking about?" She asked.

Katsuki grinned. "Deku here's a scaredy-cat in crowds." He revealed, fiercely rubbing the shrub on Izuku's hair.

Though she didn't quite like the name Katsuki had given her baby, she chuckled to herself. "Yeah, Izuku has never been a crowd person." She confirmed.

"MOM!" Izuku whined, betrayal in his eyes.

Inko shrugged. "It's true, though." She pointed out.

Mitsuki was howling in laughter beside them. 'This was a great idea!'

As the small group entered the building, they were immediately overwhelmed with not only the thousands of people inside but the sheer quantity of commerce available. One moment you could find a jeweller, the next an artsy shop, before suddenly finding ten clothes shops lined up with one another. There even seemed to be shops exclusive for certain Quirks, such as tailors for those with Mutant Quirks. No doubt the food court most likely on the other end of the complex would be flooded with people swarming to get food. It was like, 12:15 pm after all; standard lunchtime, yes?

Mitsuki turned to Inko. "Alright Inky, where to?" She inquired.

Inko was confused by this. "I...don't know." She replied. "Do you know where we can find something? Like a map?"

Mitsuki chuckled. "No fuckin' clue; never bothered to check."

"MIKI!" Inko was less concerned about the casual F-bomb and more so about Mitsuki's sheer incompetence with planning.

All the Bakugo did was shrug. "What, you think I _plan_ for something like this?" She asked. "I don't even know what's here!"

"Then why not _check_?"

"I don't like spoilers!"

"THAT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ANYTHING!"

"IT HAS EVERYTHING TO DO WITH EVERYTHING!"

"_Alright, fine." Katsuki groaned, giving in. He knew an argument with Mitsuki Bakugo would result in a loss by default, let alone one involving shopping. "So what are we getting then?"_

"_No clue!" Mitsuki grinned as she grabbed a towel for her shower._

_Katsuki knew his eyebrow was twitching, and for all means and purposes, he agreed. "Then what in the hell are we going for?!"_

_Already undressed and in the bathroom, Mitsuki gave a smile and a wave out the door. "Innovation!" She exclaimed, slamming the door behind her._

_The explosive little shit proceeded to stomp down the stairs back to the living room, though to his credit he deserved to be angry this time. "THEN WHY THE HELL ARE YOU DRAGGIN' ME INTO THIS?!"_

Katsuki pinched the bridge of his nose. "I knew this was gonna happen…" He groaned. His mother was strong and wise, yes (not that he'd admit the latter to her face _ever_), but _dear god_ was she the worst planner he'd ever known. If she was bad with directions as well, he was certain she'd drown in an empty cardboard box.

"Are you okay?" He turned to see one Izuku Midoriya looking at him with concern. No doubt he anticipated this as well; their mothers had known each other long enough.

Katsuki sighed. "Yeah, I'm fine." He lied. He wasn't hurt, but he was _not_ okay. He started walking off muttering "Stupid hag…" under his breath.

Izuku ran after him. "Where are you going?" He asked, worried his…'friend' would get lost in the crowd.

Katsuki looked Izuku in the eye, jabbing a thumb behind him at the two mothers. "Away from _that_." He drawled. "You coming or not?"

That...was the last thing Izuku was expecting. He saw that Katsuki was walking away and likely wanted to avoid the noise from the two mothers (he wasn't a fan either), and Katsuki _had_ always been the adventurous one since forever, but bringing him with him? Let alone after the fallout since he was diagnosed Quirkless?

Maybe he just needed someone to help him vent.

But...should he go with him? Well, he knows fully well that Katsuki will just trot through the store no matter what anybody does, but should he really follow suit, or should he stay behind with Inko and Mitsuki? Despite them yelling at each other about their travelling faults...and not really moving since they entered the store…

Plus, this could be an opportunity for him to get over his worry of large crowds. He had Katsuki with him, so he could get some help from him if he ended up scared- no, wait, he'd just bonk his head with an explosion and tell him to suck it up. Either way, Kacchan or not, he'd be able to go through the centre and try to adapt to the countless people here. It was worth a shot, right?

Izuku broke into a small run as he smiled. "Okay!" cried, charging towards his 'friend'. He really wished those quotation marks didn't exist…

Katsuki smirked. "Atta boy, Deku." He acknowledged. He turned to the rest of the shopping centre beyond him, which honestly looked like a metropolis from their young heights. "ALRIGHT, LET'S DO THIS!"

"YEAH!" The egg bounced following Izuku's cheer.

Their screams of excitement earned a couple of giggles from some passerby.

And with that, the two ran into the swarm of humans moving through the complex, ready to find all this place has to offer.

* * *

Downstairs at the south entrance was where you could mostly find things for general grocery shopping, beauty cosmetics, ¥ 200 shops with cheap trinkets and collectibles, a couple coffee shops...you get the idea. Actually, due to this being the most 'Shopping Centre' part of Westfield, you'd find most people here for being to have the general stuff down here like anywhere else _in addition_ to all the fancy bonuses from the three levels above them.

Unfortunately, while few villains came to shopping centres like this unless planned (one particular incident in Tokyo 6 years back was remembered even now), there were commonly thugs here or at least those who'd gladly bruise up with another of their type. They tried to avoid those they deemed 'innocent', but beat the bloody hell out of anybody in their way. To the dismay of many, Westfield Musutafu was no exception.

"You wanna fuckin' go?!"

"You walk up to me with that look again and my Quirk'll gladly turn your face inside out you talking yam!"

"Who you calling a talking yam!?"

"You and that stupid face of yours! The hell even are you?!"

"I'm part-blobfish, you little shit! Just try and hit me!"

"YOU CALLIN' ME SHORT!?"

"_YOU'LL _BE CALLING FOR MOMMY WHEN I QUASH YOU LIKE A DEFECTIVE ACCORDION!"

"YOU TALK SHIT ABOUT MY MOTHER AND THAT'S ALL THAT'LL COME OUT OF YOU, YOU VISCOSE MUPPET!"

"_Move._"

The two thugs immediately cleared out of the way at the commanding tone. They had no idea who the guy was, but there was something within them screaming 'Keep the fuck _back_'. And if their success in their brutish lives had taught them anything, always follow instinct unless it's food.

The two thugs turned to the hooded man once he'd passed them. "The hell you doin' anyway?" The shorter one asked.

The man turned around. "Nothing special," He replied. "Just biding my time."

The blobfish thug scratched his...head? "For what?" He wondered, curious.

From the little space left from the hood's opening, they could see a subtle grin. "A good chance to debut," He replied, chuckling. "A guy's gotta make a good first impression, you know?" And with that, he walked off further into floor B1.

When he was out of earshot, the two thugs looked towards one another, each with a confused look. "Weirdo." The shorter of the two remarked.

* * *

"_Do not fear, for I am here!"_

Katsuki snorted. Even at his age, he understood how advertisements worked (having worked with countless outlets for commercials, he had his father to thank for that). Even though he admired the Hero as much as Izuku did, even he had to admit using him for a cereal commercial was quite possibly the corniest thing ever. Ah well, at least the guy was looking like he was enjoying it.

"Hey Deku, check this out, would ya?" He turned behind him from the electronics store where he was viewing one of the TVs from inside, seeing if Izuku was anywhere to be found. He knew the Quirkless would go mad to see his favourite Hero, regardless of circumstance.

However, he noticed that Izuku was instead across the other end of the highway of people, walking into an art shop. The hell would he be interested in there? He didn't recall him ever being interested in painting or crafting.

After shuffling through the large crowd of people moving backward and forward, some not even paying attention due to mobile phones, he managed to get partway through and reach a small midway bridge between the two opposite walkways, a bright orange wood sheet rather than the white tiling everywhere else in the store. There were a few people walking through every now and then, but nowhere near as many as the crowds on the main route.

Katsuki turned right and left and noticed how large this place actually was. He expected it to be smaller inside than it looked, or joking about it being bigger from some mass Quirk that the owner had. The last thing he expected was for it to be _exactly as big as it projected itself_. Go figure.

When he looked back left, he noticed a large man and a small boy, the former being broad with spiky red hair and the latter having smooth hair, right half being white while the left was red. The hell was up with that? Did the kid dye his hair?

When he looked closer at the larger man, however, he thought he recognised him from somewhere. Was he somebody he saw in public before? Maybe on the television? Wait a minute...it couldn't be…

He walked up to the two, where the man let out a small gruff. "Something wrong, kid?" He rumbled, voice about as deep as Katsuki expected with that kind of build.

Katsuki scratched his own spiky head. "Yeah, I think I've seen you somewhere before…" He blurted. When he had a thought involving someone else, he'd say it.

The man raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah?"

Katsuki nodded. He quickly turned to the art shop, noticing Izuku was still looking around. That was good; he'd be able to grab him when he was done talking with this guy.

"So, um…" Katsuki trailed off.

"Hm?"

Katsuki cleared his throat a bit, turning back to the guy. He moved a bit closer so as to be quiet. "Are you Endeavor?" He half-whispered.

He didn't notice it, but the red and white boy had turned away and moved his attention elsewhere.

The man let out a gruff noise, eyes still on Katsuki. "Not bad, kid," He acknowledged, though his face was still stoic. "How'd you guess?"

Katsuki shrugged. "Instinct." He wasn't wrong; he used it for just about everything.

Endeavor smirked a bit. "That's good," He replied. "A good instinct will get you places."

Katsuki smirked himself. "Don't need to tell me that." He shot back.

The No.2's face dropped a bit. "Cocky, eh?"

"Hey, Katsuki!" The Bakugo turned at the voice, seeing Izuku running right towards them. "What took you so long? I thought you didn't like technology that much."

Katsuki rose an eyebrow. "Don't like- what are you talking about? I'm fine with it," He explained, confused. "I finished there a few minutes ago."

Izuku nodded. Maybe he was wrong about that one. "Then what-" He then looked up to the older man sitting on a bench next to them. Somehow he hadn't noticed him.

When he did, though, he immediately recognised the Hero, smile growing three sizes that day. "Are you-!?"

His mouth was slapped and exploded by Katsuki. "Keep it down, Deku!" He hushed. "They guy's probably on break or something!"

When Katsuki's hand left his mouth, he turned to the **Hellfire** user. "Sorry, Endeavor." He whispered, bowing.

Endeavor waved it off. "Don't sweat it," He replied. "Nobody else can tell, so no harm done."

Katsuki turned his attention to the boy he had dubbed Half-and-Half. "Who's the kid?" He asked the Hero.

Endeavor turned to the boy, and strangely enough, his gaze on the child seemed to harden a bit. "My third son," He introduced. "Not much of a talker." The words caused the boy to glare at his father. Maybe Endeavor hit a soft spot?

Izuku walked straight to the boy, much to the surprise of Katsuki and Endeavor. "Hi," He spoke to the boy. "I'm Izuku Midoriya. Nice to meet you!" He held out a hand, hoping the boy would shake it.

Endeavor was caught off guard by this action. Barely anybody just wanted to talk to the kid, let alone approach them. Or did this kid just like meeting people? Midoriya, was it?

The boy's red and blue eyes looked away from Izuku, almost in embarrassment. Was he afraid of something? Maybe he was just antisocial.

Katsuki grabbed Izuku's shoulder. "Look, half-and-half isn't gonna shake the hand, alright?" He explained. His words caused Izuku's face to be not one of hurt, but...confusion? "Come on, let's just-"

"Shoto." The two turned at the whisper to where it came from: the boy with two halves. Even Endeavor seemed to be shocked. "Shoto Todoroki." The quiet boy reached his right arm out to Izuku's giving it a light squeeze. It was surprisingly cold. His Quirk, perhaps?

Seeing that Shoto was rather nervous, Izuku didn't grab the hand too tight, nor did he shake that hard. All he did was smile, glad he got to meet somebody new.

"Your hand's cold." Izuku pointed out as he let go of the boy's hand.

Shoto slightly flinched at those words, looking down slightly. "Yeah...it is." He whispered. "It's from my mother."

Katsuki stood next to Izuku. "I bet she's pretty strong, too." He bet.

Shoto's eyes widened at that, a small gasp escaping him. His shock soon formed into a small smile, looking at the two boys with a blue and a red eye, both far brighter than earlier. "Yeah. She is." He answered. He seemed far happier now.

Izuku laughed. "Most moms are!" He agreed. His mother may be soft to those she cared for, but he knew firsthand how fierce Inko Midoriya could be.

Feeling a small pop of heat on his shoulder, Izuku turned to Katsuki. "We checking that art place out or not?" He asked. The mood right now was pretty good, so he wanted to keep it that way.

Izuku nodded. "Yeah," He replied. He wanted to show an idea he found in the store across from them. As the two ran off to dive into the crowd of never-ending humans, the Quirkless turned back to the quiet Todoroki. "See you soon, Shoto!" He called out, hoping the boy heard his farewell.

Fortunately, he did. "Bye." He called back. Not nearly as loud as Izuku had been, but definitely his loudest today.

He heard Enji sigh. "Alright, we've been here long enough, back to clothes shopping." He announced.

Shoto nodded robotically. "Yes, father." He replied, the two standing up and walking out the opposite end of the bridge. Before he walked into the crowd, he turned back to see if he could find the two boys who had made him smile. When he found them moving through the store, Izuku explaining something to his friend with visible passion, he couldn't help but smile again. It had been too long since he'd felt like this.

With that, he followed his father back into the current of people, a soft grin still maintained.


End file.
